Monday, May 16, 2011

Happy BIrthday Henry Fonda

Doing a quick post celebrating the birthday May 16th of the great Henry Fonda, one of the best actors that we've ever had on the screen or stage.  He was a portrait of quintessential American dignity as "Tom Joad" in John Ford's "The Grapes of Wrath,"  and as a "Young Mr. Lincoln" in yet another Ford Masterpiece.  Fonda amassed a tremendous body of work in a career spanning over 50 years, creating the great role of "Mr. Roberts" in the play of the same name and then the classic movie.  Oddly enough he started acting in his native Nebraska at the urging of Dodie Brando (yes Marlon's mother).  This dignified presence that Fonda brought to the screen had him often playing "The President" in several of his later films.  He was the liberal yin to the conservative yang of his friend John Wayne. 

Fonda was also very cool as he showed in his western performances.  I particularly like him as "Wyatt Earp" in Ford's "My Darling Clementine, and " William Wellman's "The Ox-Bow Incident," and in Edward Dmytryk's "Warlock" based on a great novel by Oakley Hall (one of Thomas Pynchon's favorites btw).  "Warlock" is a inversion of the Wyatt Earp/Doc Holliday legend with Fonda ambiguously portraying an Earp like hired gunman/marshall. 

One other performance of note was as the title character in the Alfred Hitchcock chilling masterwork "The Wrong Man."  He plays a man whose life is destroyed when wrongly accused of murder.  

Some of Fonda's other excellent films and performances include:  The Ox-Bow Incident, Drums Along the Mohawk, The Lady Eve, You Only Live Once, Jezebel, The Return of Frank James, The Male Animal, Daisy Kenyon, Fort Apache, War and Peace, The Wrong Man, 12 Angry Men, The Tin Star,  Advise and Consent, The Best Man, Fail Safe, Firecreek, Once Upon a Time in the West, Battle of the Bulge, Big Hand for A Little Lady, There Was a Crooked Man, My Name is Nobody, On Golden Pond, Summer Solstice. 

Most of these films are available on Netflix and are shown regularly on TCM. Please check them out, you will be entertained.

Here's Some clips of this wonderful actor's work: 










No comments:

Post a Comment